williams



(Model.) W. H., WILLIAMS.

SPRING Hmm-:L` No. 281,594. Patented UNITED l STATES PATENT if OFFICE.

VILLIAM H. WILLIAMS, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO VAN VAGONER 811` y WILLIAMS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SPRING-HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,594, dated J'uly 17, 1883,

Applicationfnea Junelaissa (Model.)

T all w/wm/ t may concern Be it knowntliat I, WILLIAM HILTON WILL- TAMS, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Spring-Hinges; and I do hereby declare that the following specificatiomtaken. in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clean-true, and com` plete description of my invention.

One object of my invention is to provide, in a loose-j ointed spring hinge or butt,a lookingcollar located at or near one end of the hinge, and outside of the ears thereof. The location of a locking-collar at one end of the hinge is very desirable in spring-hinges, because of its ready accessibility and consequent convenience for manipulation during the adjustment of the spring. With the locking-collar located at the-end of the hinge, and outside of the ears thereof, a desirable finish is readily 1 obtained, because said collar in its outline may be made exactly to conform tothe outline of the ear against or upon which it rests. It is not broadly new to employ a locking-collar at one end of a spring hinge-a`s, for instance, in

the close butt or hinge shown in the United States Patent of Acker, No. 29,212, July 17, 1860, wherein the locking-collar engages with a spring-lug, and there are involved therein a construction and arrangement which are inapplicablev to a loose-j ointed butt; and therefore I have so organized the parts of my hinge that said locking-collar engages Ywith the hingepintle, and enables me either to use one or two separable spring -lugs between the pairs of hinge-ears or to wholly dispense with such lugs in the'manufacture of the cheaper class of hinges.. AIn said Acker hinge the locking- 4collar is non-detachablefrom the hinge only when the spring is under tension, and it is therefore liable to be accidentally displaced provided with separate lower and upper brackets, and means by which the locking-collars are prevented-from being detachedfrom said upper brackets, or from the spindles-having bearings in said brackets; also, that in some cases the detachability of said collars is only prevented when the door-springs are actually mounted on a door and its frame, and in other cases when the door spring is unmounted as well as mounted, their spindle having a head of larger diameter than the inside diameter of the locking-collar; and it is to be therefore understood that I make no claim to a non-detachable locking-plate as applicable tov doorsprings, but limit myself to the combination of such a locking collar or plate with a springhinge pintle, which not only unites the two leaves of a hinge, but also unitesl therewith the spring and thelocking-plate, thus enabling a new locking-plate to be readily substituted for a broken one without removing the hinge from its mounted position7 and without necessity of displacing the spring or its lugs,where as with the door-springs referred to either the upper or the lower of the two brackets must be removed and the spring first bodily detached from the spindle before lthelatter can be removed, from the bracket for the application of a new locking-collar.

After a full description of my improvements the several features of my-invention will be specified in the claims hereunto annexed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a hinge embodying my said improvements in their most desirable form. Fig. 2 is a top'view. of the same with the head of the hinge-pintle removed. Fig. 3 is a side view of the hinge-pintle detached. Fig. Llis a top view of the upper spring-lug detached. Fig. 5 is a top view of the lower spring-lug de tached. Fig. 6 is afron't view of a hinge without separable spring-lugs, but embodying the main. features of my invention. Fig. 7 is a detached view of either end ofthe spring shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a top view of a hinge-ear shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a front .view of a hinge having two spring-lugs like the lower lug of Fig. l, and embodying certain features of my invention. l u y l 'Ihe leaves A of the hingeshownin Fig. 1 differ from those of prior'hinges, in that one leaf has at its upper inner edge a projection, The locking-collar is also f'rec to be rotated a., in which there is a lateral recess, a', and also in that the uppermost hinge-ear has a flat surface in line with said recess.

'Ihe spring B, the radially recessed upper spring-lng, I), and the lowcrspring-lug, b', are similar to those in the spring-hinge heretofore devised by C. S. Van XVagcner. The hingepintle C is rotative in, the ears of the hinge, and is longitudinally slotted, as at c, for affording a means for its direct or indirect connection with one end of the spring B. In the hinge shown in Fig l, the spring and slotted pintle are connected by an intermediate upper spring-lug, Fig. 4, which is provided at its eye with an inwardly-projecting spline, c', which occupies the slot c in the pintle, thus rotatively connecting said pintle and lug, the latter bein provided with a stud against which one end of the spring abuts.

I am well aware that the slotted rotative pintle in itself is not new-as, for instance, it is found in the hinge shown and described in the United States Letters Patent of Brewer, No. 198,533, December 25, 1877. As shown by me, the slot c is long enough to enable it te engage with cithertheupper or a lower springlug, or with the upper or lower end of aspring, if no lugs be used, but if it is to be engaged by a lower spring-lug, or by the lower end of a spring, said slot need extend from its lower end only slightly above the lower hinge-ear, or above a lower separable lug, if one be used. )Iy hinge-pintle is, however, novel, in that it has near its top a polygonal or cog-shaped flange, ci, a neck, c, smaller in diameter than the flange, and a polygonal head, c, which is larger than said fla-nge. The head is polygonal in form, so that a wrench or other similar device may be readily applied for rotating said pintle and setting the spring; but except as hereinafter indicated in my claims, I do not limit myself to such a head, as it is obvious that it may be round, and provided with one or more radial holes for the reception of a pin, which will enable the pintle to be rotated, and if such a pin be left in one of said holes it will serve also as a means for connecting the locking-collar to the hinge, as hereinafter more fully described.

The locking-collar D is substantially annular in form, has its interior edge polygonal or cog-shaped, as the case may be, so as to fit upon and lock with the flange c2 of the pintle, and it has a projecting arm, d. This collar has a flat bearing-surface upon the upper side of the uppermost hinge-ear, and its arm d projects over upon the adjacent hinge-leaf and normally occupies the recess a. In its best form and arrangement, as shown, this flange conforms in outline with the coincident hinge-car, and in effect it has the general appearance of being a part of said ear; and I prefer, in order to render the hinge symmetrical, that the lower ear on the same leaf' be made as thick as the combined thickness of the upper ear and the locking-collar, as shown in Fig. 1.

upon the neck e3 of the pintle when lifted from the flange c2, thus providing for the rotation of the pintlc and the collar independently of each other-as, for instance, while the spring is being set, or when the force of the spring is not desired; and in the latter case, after the collar has been thus turned upon the neck of the pintle, it is again seated upon the flange with its arm d projected oppositely from the recess a', it being held in that position by the pintle, which is, under those circumstances, maintained against independent rotation by the end of the spring bearing without strain against the upper lug, which is splined to the pintle, the lower spring-lug being non -rotative, and hence preventing the spring from rotating when loose and when the hinge is in use as an ordinary hinge. `While the collar is not operating as a locking-collar, as described, it is secured against accidental detachment. from the hinge by the head c4, which is larger than the central opening inthe collar. Vhen the head c" is polygonal, it may alone be relied upon for setting the spring; but when an adjusting spring-lug is used the head of the pintle may be round, or of any other form not suitable for use with a wrench. Except as indicated in my claims, I do not limit myself' to the polygonal head of the pintle, or to a cross-pin therein for securing the locking-collar against the accidental detachment of the collar from the hinge, because it may obviously be otherwise secured#as, for instance, by an overhanging stud-on either hinge-canas hereinafter described, which -will prevent its detachment except upon the complete removal ofthe pintle. 'Ihe locking-collar and a rotative pintle having a serrated flange which is larger in diameter than the adjacent portion of the pintle constitute a valuable improvement, regardless of the particular location of said flange and collar, and, so far as my knowledge extends, I am the first to employ, with a rotative spring-adjusting hinge-pintle, a locking-collar which is mounted upon said pintle, and is free to bc locked thereto or rotated thereon.

I have shown in Figs. 6 to 8, inclusive, a cheap form of hinge, wherein no separable spring-lugs are employed. In other words, either ear of the' hinge is provided with a' neck, which is vertically slotted, preferably at its rear side, as seen at e in Fig. 8, said slot being for the reception of an inwardly-turned end, c, of the spring B, (shown in Fie. 7,) which is an old and well-known way of arranging one or both ends of a spring, so that when employedwith the slotted rotative hingepintle already described one of said spring ends occupies the slot in said pintle and the other end occupies the slot in the hinge-car, thus affording a neatness of' finish not heretofore attainable in spring-hinges wherein no separable spring-lugs are employed, because both ends of said spring may bc concealed from view by being located at the rear side of the hinge. In the hinge, Fig. 6, I show an IOO IIO

overhanging projection, e2, from one leaf of the hinge, which prevents the detachment of the locking-collar D, although the pintle has a head which is smaller than the central opening in said collar, and when the collar is thus secured it is obvious that it cannot be displaced except after the removal of the pintle, and the consequent separation of the hingeleaves.

In Fig. 9 I show a hinge having two separable spring-lugs; but neither of them serves in itself as an adjusting device7 as does the lug b in Fig. 1, although4 either the upper or the lower lug is splined to the pintle, as in Fig. 1, and the other is locked against rotation by abutting contact with' one hinge-leaf; but both of these lugs are of course engaged by the ends of the spring, as heretofore. In this case, as with thehinge shown in Figs. 6 to 8, inclusive, it is obvious that the pintle itself constitutes the sole adjusting device, and the locking-collars D, employed therewith, are precisely'the same as that shown in Fig. l, and these variations in construction and arrangement are introduced to partiallyillustrate the value of the rotative spring-controlling pintle and the locking-collar, which is capable of being locked to said pintle or of being rotated thereon, regardless ofthe particular arrangement ofthe parts or construction of the spring, or of the presence or absence of separable spring-lugs, and whether the latter be adjustable or non-adjustable.

It will be readily seen that when a separable spring-lug is connected with the pintle so that both must be rotated together, as I have shown, if the pintle be polygonal at its shank and the eye of the lug correspondingly formed to snugly receive it, each will be nonrotative independently of the other, precisely the same as if the lug were specially splined thereto in the manner shown 5 and therefore I do not limit myself to the slotted pintle in a combination embodying a spring-lug connected so as to rotate therewith, although the slotted pintle has special value when the spring directly engages therewith, as shown in Fig. 6.

Although, as hereinbefore stated, the main object of my invention is to improve loosejointed butts, I do not preclude myself from such advantages as would accrue from the use of my improvements in connection with a pintle so applied to the hinge thatthe latter would be substantially a close-jointed butt, provided always that the pintle was rotative and had the locking-collar thereon, as described, so as to be locked thereto or rotated thereon.

Having thus described my invention,rI claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, with the hinge-leavesand spring, of a rotative hinge-pintle, and adjusting spring-lug locked to said pintle and engaged by one end of the spring, and a lockingcollar upon the neck of the pintle, which is free t0 be rotated thereon or locked to said pintle.

2. The combination, with the hinge-leaves and spring, of the longitudinally-slotted rotative hinge-pintle which controls said spring, and a locking-collar which is adjacent to the neck of the pintle, is free to rotate thereon or to'be locked to said pintle, and is inseparable from the hinge while the pintle is in position.

3. In a spring-hinge, the combination, withthe rotative longitudinally-slotted hinge-pintle having a head, of the locking-collar mounted upon one ear of the hinge, beneath the head and adjacent to the neck of said pintle, and having a central opening smaller than said pintle-head, substantially as described, for securing the collar against detachment from the hinge, except upon withdrawal of the pintle.

WILLIAM HILTON WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

FRED QUAcKENBUsI-r, C. T. STORK. 

